24 



NATURE 



[May 3, 1888 



in association with a few fragments of pharmacolite shows that 

 it must be grouped with the family of the positive acute bisector 

 crystals. One of its indices of refraction, formerly measured by 

 Haidinger on a natural prism of 40 , formed by two opposite 

 facets, ti and m, must be the maximum index, a = i'6'j. — 

 Observations of Palisa's new planets 275 and 276, made at the 

 Observatory of Algiers, by MM. Trepied, Rambaud, and Sy. 

 These observations, which were made with the o '50 m. telescope, 

 cover the period April 17-18, when the two planets were of the 

 respective estimated magnitudes n and ii'5. — On the employ- 

 ment of gas thermometers, by M. Crafts. These remarks are 

 made in connection with the hydrogen instrument recently 

 described by M. Cailletet, who mentions an analogous type of 

 thermometer devised ten years ago by M. Crafts. — On a new 

 system of telephonic communication between trains in motion 

 and the neighbouring stations, by M. Y. Germain. A series of 

 electric measurements effected on rails from the stand-point of 

 their resistance, insulation, and diffusive electric power, has 

 satisfied the author that the two metallic parts of the same line 

 connected together constitute an excellent conductor, provided 

 the circuit and pile be insulated from earth. He has established 

 curves of resistance for the rails according to the variations 

 caused by the temperature and by the humid condition of the 

 ballast. A new line shows less resistance than an old, owing to 

 the oxidation of the points and the slow transformation brought 

 about in the molecules of steel under the influence of vibration. 

 By setting up the necessary apparatus in the stations and in the 

 guard's van, telephonic correspondence may be carried on in 

 both directions ; but the details of the process are for the present 

 withheld. — On anew fossil fish of the Commentry (Allier) Coal- 

 measures, by M. Charles Brongniart. This fish, of which several 

 good specimens have been found, presents peculiarities distin- 

 guishing it from all other fishes extinct or living. It is here 

 consequently constituted a separate order of Pleuracanthides, 

 as the prototype of the star-fish, Ceratodus, and allied forms. 

 The present specimen is named P. gaudryi, in honour of M. 

 Albert Gaudry. 



Berlin. 

 Physiological Society, April 13.— Prof. Munk, President, in 

 the chair. — Prof. Gad made a complementary communication to 

 his previous one dealing with the proof of the Wallerian law. 

 His experiments were carried out, in conjunction with Dr. 

 Joseph, on the vagus nerve and its jugular ganglion. The nerve 

 was cut through either on the central or peripheral side of the 

 ganglion, and after six or eight weeks degeneration was looked 

 for in the ganglion and nerve. These experiments yielded only a 

 general confirmation of Waller's law ; at the same time they 

 brought to light so many peculiarities and divergencies, that, even 

 with the help of physiological experiment, it was found im- 

 possible to deduce any universal laws from the details com- 

 municated to the Society. — Dr. Baginski spoke on the Bacteria 

 normally present in the faeces of children which are being fed on 

 the milk of the mother. As is well known, Eschricht has dis- 

 tinguished two kinds among the above, viz. Bacterium laclis 

 and Bacterium coli ; of these the first is said to be capable of in- 

 ducing the lactic fermentation of milk-sugar. The speaker had 

 investigated the truth of this statement by cultivating the 

 Bacterium lactis, with all needful precautions, in a solution of 

 milk-sugar to which neither peptone nor any other nutrient 

 fluid had been added. When the fermentation was at an end, 

 the fluid was strongly acid, but no lactic acid, or at most 

 the minutest trace of this acid, could be discovered in it : all the 

 reactions which it did yield pointed to the presence in it of acetic 

 acid. This Bacterium lactis (which should now rather perhaps 

 be called Bacterium aceti) produced no effect on casein or 

 any other proteid, and no putrefactive change was induced. 

 Similarly it had no action on starch paste. Bearing in mind the 

 practical medical interest which attaches to fermentative 

 processes which may occur in the alimentary canal of children at 

 the breast, Dr. Baginski had next investigated the behaviour 

 of the Bacterium and the nature of the fermentation it produces 

 when deprived of air and oxygen, and found that the fermentation 

 was in all respects the same as that which takes place with access 

 of air. The gaseous products of the fermentation were carbonic 

 acid gas, hydrogen and marsh-gas. From among the various 

 substances whose action on the Bacterium was tried, it is sufficient 

 to mention that acetic acid very speedily killed it, so that no 

 growth of the organism was observed in gelatine made acid with 

 the product of its own activity. This product therefore plays 

 the part of an active poison as regards the further life of the 



organism. — Dr. Mertsching spoke on the histology of the skin 

 and hairs, and in some detail on the mode of origin of horny 

 growths. The speaker exhibited a large number of preparations 

 in support of his views. 



Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, March 31. — Mr. Martin 

 stated that he had been charged by Mr. van Lansberge, late 

 Governor- General of Dutch India, to present to the Leyden 

 Museum a portion of a jaw of a gigantic Ichthyosaurus from the 

 south coast of Ceram. From this fossil the existence of 

 Mesozoic strata in that island may be inferred ; and the fact that 

 in British India and in Australia remains of the same animal 

 have been found in the Chalk suggests that in Ceram also there 

 may be a Cretaceous formation. The statement made in 

 Berghaus's Physikalischer Atlas, to the effect that a Palaeozoic 

 formation is to he found on the south coast of Ceram, is without 

 foundation. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED 

 FOR REVIEW. 



The Australian Race, 4 vols.: E. M. Curr (Triibner). — Abhandlungen und 

 Berichte des K. Zoologischen und Anthropologisch-Ethnographischen 

 Museums zu Dresden : Dr. A. B. Meyer (FriedlSnder). — Diamagnedsm and 

 Magne-Crystallic Action ; New Edition : John Tyndall (Longmans). — Silk- 

 worms : E. A. Butler (Sonnenschein). — A Treatise on Hydrodynamics, vol. 

 i. : A. B. Basset (Deighton, Bell, and Co .).— Publications of the Lick Obser- 

 vatory of the University of California, vol. i., 1887 (Sacramento). — 

 Methodik der Gesamten Naturwissenschaft : K. Kollbach (Leipzig). — 

 Turbans and Tails : A. J. Bamford (Low). — Antipodean Notes : Wanderer 

 (Low). — Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life : J. Freeman (Low). — The 

 Land of the Pink Pearl : L. D. Powles (Low).— The Birds of Dorsetshire : 

 J. C. Mansel Pleydell (Porter). — Argentine Ornithology ; A Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the Birds of the Argentine Republic, vol. i. : P. L. Sclater and 

 W.H. Hudson (Porter). — Dr. H. G. Bronn's Klassen und Ordnungen des 

 Thier-Reichs ; Erster Band, Protozoa : Dr. O. Biitschli (Williams and 

 Norgate). — Memoire sur la Theorie de la Figure des Planetes : M. O. 

 Callandreau. — Bulletin de l'Academie Royale des" Sciences de Belgique, 

 No. 3, 1888 (Bruxelles). — Transactions of the New York Academy of 

 Sciences, vol. vi. (New York). 



PAGE 



CONTENTS. 



Volapiik, Pasilingua, Spelin, Lingualumina .... 1 

 Bridge Construction. By Prof. A. G. Greenhill ... 2 



Two French Books 4 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Gray and Lowson : " The Elements of Graphical 



Arithmetic and Graphical Statics " 4 



Woodward: " The Manual Training School " .... 5 



Crosskey : " The Method of Creation " 5 



Letters to the Editor : — 



"Coral Formations." — G. C. Bourne; C. R. Dryer . 5 

 Density and Specific Gravity. — Prof. G. Carey 



Foster, F.R.S. ; E. Hospitalier 6 



The Ignition of Platinum in Different Gases. — Dr. W. 



R. Hodgkinson 6 



" The Nervous System and the Mind." — Dr. Chas. 



Mercier; The Reviewer 7 



Nose-Blackening as Preventive of Snow-Blindness. — 

 Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. ; Edmund J. 



Power • 7 



"Antagonism." — F. Howard Collins 7 



Sense of Taste.— W. G. S 7 



Suggestions on the Classification of the Various 

 Species of Heavenly Bodies. III. {Illustrated.) By 



J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S 8 



The Royal Society Selected Candidates n 



The Islands of Vulcano and Stromboli. By Dr. H. J. 



Johnston Lavis 13 



Head-Growth in Students at the University of Cam- 

 bridge. (With Diagram.) By Francis Galton, F.R.S. 14 

 Photograph of the Eye by Flash of Magnesium. 

 (Illustrated.) By Prof. Claude du Bois-Reymond . 15 



Notes 16 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1888 



May 6-12 18 



Geographical Notes 18 



Our Electrical Column 19 



On the Comparison of the Cranial with the Spinal 

 Nerves. By Dr. W. H. Gaskell, F.R.S. . ..... 19 



University and Educational Intelligence 20 



Scientific Serials 20 



Societies and Academies 21 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received for Review 24 



